Red Bull unveiled the RB21, the first car produced by the team without the involvement of F1 design legend Newey in almost two decades, on Tuesday.
Newey announced his departure from Red Bull in May last year, with the 66-year-old appointed to the newly created role of managing technical partner by rivals Aston Martin in September.
The news of Newey’s exit coincided with a dramatic loss of form by Red Bull, who won just five of the last 19 races of 2024 as the team lost their way with the development of the RB20.
Verstappen overcame a 10-race winless streak, his longest barren run since 2020, to secure a fourth consecutive World Championship with two races to spare.
However, Red Bull slipped to a disappointing third, behind McLaren and Ferrari, in the Constructors’ standings.
Despite the team’s inconsistent performances in the second half of 2024, the launch-spec RB21 appears remarkably similar to its predecessor.
It is unclear whether Red Bull are planning to introduce a raft of upgrades at some stage during this week’s three-day pre-season test in Bahrain or ahead of the opening race of the new season in Australia on March 16.
As reported by PlanetF1.com last month, Newey is set to begin work with Aston Martin next Monday (March 3), less than two weeks before the F1 2025 curtain raiser.
Verstappen has called for Red Bull to move on from Newey, insisting that he has complete “trust” in the new-look technical regime at Red Bull led by technical director Pierre Waché.
According to the BBC, Verstappen said of Newey’s absence: “I don’t think we should think about that too much. It is done.
“He is not there any more. That’s how it is. It’s how it’s been last year.
“And I trust also the people who are there at the moment. We have to do it all together.
“It is a team effort but I have a lot of respect for what Adrian has done for the team, have a great relationship with Adrian and I am excited for him to start a new project.”
Verstappen’s latest comments come after he revealed that he has not yet set a firm target for F1 2025 with Red Bull’s position in the pecking order uncertain.
Speaking after his first outing behind the wheel of the RB21 in Bahrain on Tuesday, he said: “It is really nice to be back driving again and to get into RB21 for the first time.
“I got a few laps in, but [Red Bull’s shakedown] was more about getting comfortable in the car, seeing what fits and we will then learn more about the car over the next few days.
“We know what last year’s limitations were, so it is important that we assess the pace over the next few days and see if we have improved.
“We don’t have a long time before the first race so, over testing, we hope to get a lot of mileage on the car and lots of runs in to understand where we can find time.
“At the moment I don’t have targets for the season as we don’t know how competitive we are, but I am looking forward to getting back to racing in general, especially driving in Spa and Zandvoort, which are my favourite tracks on the calendar.”
